Innovative Programs and Interventions

Among the heavy and dark environment that can surround Boston’s inner city neighborhoods, one program stands out to give high school athletes access to educational resources. The Boston Scholar Athletes program goes into the heart of Boston Public High Schools and provides student athletes with tutoring time and academic assistance. The Zone’s mission is to provide help to student athletes that might be struggling academically. Many of these athletes come from rough backgrounds so access to mentors and people who care can make a big difference in little ways.
A program’s measure of success is only as good as the changes it makes. For the Boston Scholar Program, the benefits need to be seen in the performance of those who embark within the program itself. Students that fail to retain academic eligibility can find ways to get that eligibility back. Grades go up, but so must too teamwork, confidence, and the willingness to learn. A major facet of the program is to encourage responsibility and improve the atmosphere of some teams. The overall objective: make the athletes better citizens and stronger individuals academically and socially.
The theoretical base of the program is simple but effective: have likeminded individuals help each other. Each meeting location is a “zone” that serves different areas and other students achieve academic excellence through strength-based approaches. By working with the local university population in the Boston area, the program has over 80 graduate and undergraduate students working with athletes at any given time. The total time spent tutoring by all of the tutors approached over 500 hours a month, which is a significant amount of time considering that the program only met after school...

... middle of paper ...

... program may mean that it’ll promote higher standards for eligibility. Future responsibilities may entail expanding operations to other cities or improving current GPAs even further. Boston is considering increasing the GPA requirement for SAs with the intent of preparing them for later in life. A lot of that debate can be brought back to the changes made by Boston Scholar Athletes.
For my future role as a teacher, parent, or anything in-between, the program shows that everyone has a strength that they can use to better themselves. If I am a coach in the future, I plan to remind my players to take advantage of these programs that emphasize learning skills outside of the classroom. Even if I am none of those things, I know that I can always help the community by supporting these programs that take an active interest in the wellbeing of our student athletes.